


and some nights we are lost

by TLvop



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Post-Episode: s01e11 The Magical Place, even specialists have feelings, it's very surprising, melinda may is worse at words than grant ward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:44:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TLvop/pseuds/TLvop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the middle of the night, she walks silently except for the three steps past his door.</p>
<p>Is it an invitation or a challenge? Grant's not sure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and some nights we are lost

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to ashen_key, both for throwing in her support for my crack pairing all the way back in episode 5 (and then it BECAME CANON WHAT), and for holding my hand in writing fic.
> 
> Disclaimer: I love both Melinda May and Grant Ward a lot. I love everyone else on the plane, too. _Everyone_. (Except the creepy ghost guy from episode 9.) That is all.

It takes 45 minutes from her first circuit around the Bus, in the dead of night, until she comes to see him.

He knows that because no one else on this plane walks silently except for the 3 steps closest to his door. It's something between an alert and a reassurance. Or… maybe it's an invitation?

It has been 60 hours since they fought. Coulson is safe, and the Bus is back to just the team. All truces off.

Is it an invitation or a challenge? Grant's not sure. He doesn't have the energy to dedicate to finding out. He might not be sleeping, but he's not doing much of anything else.

She knocks lightly on the door and lets herself in, adjusting the light dial up ¼ of the way. She leans against the doorframe, watching him.

"Couldn't sleep?" Grant asks. He winces at the inanity of it, sitting up in bed.

"Coulson isn't," she says. Her eyes are puffy, either from tiredness or tears. Maybe both. He's never seen her cry, but Coulson's… like family, to her. People say Grant's bad at social skills, but he's a spy. He can read interpersonal relationships. It's just ones _he_ 's in – "How are you doing?"

"Better." Grant says, then smiles. "Did I worry you?" He almost means it as a joke.

She snorts, slightly, pushing off the door. Her hand catches the door handle. Her voice is quiet, but forcibly light. "Don't flatter yourself."

She's already leaving by the time he catches his breath. "Melinda," he says, and she hesitates, fingers on the edge of the doorframe where she was going to close it. "Please."

She steps back in, a shade more hesitant this time, and he breathes. She closes the door silently behind her.

"What do you want, Grant?"

"Just – " He tugs off the sheets his legs are tangled in, and gets up. She moves her left hip out, widening her stance. Holding her ground. The movement is subconscious, almost certainly, but he's suddenly way too aware of how he towers over her. He leans his good shoulder against a wall, dropping himself a few inches, and just watches her for a few moments. He swallows. "You are… amazing. You think on your feet, and you never make the _wrong_ choice. You know that, right? You're the most competent person I've met. Ever."

She's watching him, caution a line running through her shoulders. Trying to figure out where he's going with this.

"I acted out," Grant admits. It hurts to say. "That's all. You brought a concern, and I took it personally. You weren't—" He swallows. "You weren't flattering yourself. I'm going to be professional," he says, hoping she believes him, because he's telling the truth, "I promise. I can do better, I can take feedba—" 

He's interrupted by being pulled down into a kiss. He only resists for the half-second it takes to register what's happening.

"Okay," he says, breathless, after they break apart.

She smiles a real smile, small and two-sided. He's close enough to see the crinkling at the corners of her eyes.

"I was worried," she says, like she didn't just kiss him in the Bus. "Get some sleep, Agent Ward. I have a plane to fly."

"I'll do that." 

It's not until after she leaves that he sits down on his bed, pulling the sheets up haphazardly. 

What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean?


End file.
